Fly Creek, NY- Today the Fly Creek Cider Mill & Orchard hosted NBC’s NewsChannel 2 (WKTV-Utica, NY) to film their first successful harvest of tree-ripened mallows. The Mill will open for the season this Friday, April 3rd and the fresh mallows will be available for purchase along with Pride of New York Apple Country Empires and McIntosh fresh and crispy from climate-controlled storage.

Bill Michaels, co-owner of the Mill says, “The cold winter and mild March temperatures have provided for a great crop with a good bloom and lots of growth. Originally mallows were plentiful around here but similar to the hop industry it moved out to the PacificCoast where the growing season is a bit longer. Now-a-days mallows are grown in even wetter climates giving us the variety marsh mallow. Our mallows are the traditional heirloom variety, much sweeter and more flavorful…. perfect for fresh-eating.”

The Mill will reserve a portion of the crop for juicing which will be fermented into wine. Dave Edwards, the Mill’s wine maker says, “The mallows that the orchard produces have an ultra-high natural sugar content similar to grapes that are left on the vines for making traditional ice wines. We are developing two different Mallow Ice Wines here. Our first we believe will be more popular and enjoyed as a traditional ice wine with desserts like the Mill’s pies. The second we let age in a toasted oak barrel to develop more chocolate and vanilla flavors with added spices. We will call it Toasted Mallow Ice Wine. I suggest serving this with a savory hors de oeuvre such as pate or the Mill’s cave aged cheddar.

On opening day the Mill will have the fresh mallows in their famous rocky road fudge. Ann Clinton, the Mill’s fudge maker, prefers the fresh variety over the store-bought marsh mallows because they add a little extra sweetness and a deeper vanilla flavor.

The Mill is anticipating a busy opening weekend due to the television coverage of the harvest and the quality of the mallows. The Fly Creek Cider Mill will be open daily 9:00 until 6:00 starting Friday April 3rd.